One Week Left to Register for Disaster Assistance

Release date:

September 6, 2019

Release Number:

059

LINCOLN, Neb. – There is one week remaining for survivors to register for disaster assistance after the winter storm, straight-line winds and flooding in March. The deadline to apply is September 13, 2019 for both the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) individual assistance grants and the low interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

At the request of Gov. Pete Ricketts, the Federal Emergency Management Agency extended the incident period in which disaster-caused damage may be covered. The presidential disaster declaration, issued March 21,2019, originally covered the period from March 9 to April 1. With the extension, additional uninsured damage sustained through July 14 may now be eligible for FEMA assistance and U.S. Small Business Administration low-interest loans.

If you have already registered with FEMA for disaster related damage that occurred between March 9, 2019, and April 1, 2019, AND your home received additional uninsured damage through July 14, 2019, you may be eligible for additional assistance. Contact the FEMA help line at 800-621-3362 and report the additional damage.

FEMA disaster assistance for qualified homeowners and renters, may help pay for basic repairs to make a home habitable, provide temporary rental assistance and aid with serious disaster-related needs not covered by insurance.

The only way to receive Federal assistance is to register with FEMA.

Registration is quick and easy. You can choose one of three ways to register for federal disaster assistance before the Sept. 13, 2019, deadline:

• Call the FEMA help line at 800-621-3362. Phone lines are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time, seven days a week until further notice. Multilingual operators are on duty, OR

• Use FEMA’s disaster app on your smartphone. If you haven’t downloaded the app yet, you can go to www.fema.gov/mobile-app.

After applying with FEMA, some survivors may be referred to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Low-interest disaster loans from SBA are available for eligible survivors. SBA helps businesses of all sizes, nonprofits, homeowners and renters, fund repairs or rebuilding efforts and cover the cost of replacing lost or disaster-damaged personal property.

Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, religion, nationality, sex, age, disability, English proficiency or economic status. If you or someone you know has faced discrimination, call FEMA toll-free at 800-621-3362, voice/VP/711. Multilingual operators are available. TTY users may call 800-462-7585.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is the federal government’s primary source of money for the long term rebuilding of disaster-damaged private property. SBA helps businesses of all sizes, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters fund repairs or rebuilding efforts and cover the cost of replacing lost or disaster-damaged personal property. For more information, applicants may contact SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955. TTY users may also call 800-877-8339. Applicants may also email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov or visit SBA at www.SBA.gov/disaster .